


Variations on Want and Need

by abriata



Category: Social Network (2010)
Genre: Community: kink_bingo, Gangbang, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-29 05:26:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/316298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abriata/pseuds/abriata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mark is a pretty simple person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Variations on Want and Need

Prologue

Mark is a pretty simple person. He's honest, and he keeps most things to himself, and he doesn't need other people. That's not to say he doesn't sometimes want things, but he knows he has both wants and needs and, unlike most of the rest of the population, he acknowledges the difference between the two.

His relationships with people are pretty simple, too. He either likes a person or he doesn't. With a few key categorical exceptions - family and children, primarily - if he likes someone, he likes them indiscriminately, and in every way.

So when he decides he likes his friends, it's not really important except it makes living with two of them more bearable. Enjoyable, even.

But he knows the difference between want and need, and he's a far cry from stupid, so he b) likes his friends but a) doesn't need them.

1\. Dustin

It's actually Dustin, first.

With Chris and Eduardo, later, Mark will understand it. They're both very cute, and socially adept, and sort of fill the same role where they boss him around, which is weirdly appealing even if he doesn't actually need, want or enjoy it. It's probably just the fact they have backbones and no interest in his shit, and Mark's always enjoyed a challenge. But whatever else it is, the two of them are more obviously attractive.

Dustin, though.

Dustin is like a differently-colored version of Mark. He's pale and short and Jewish, down to the annoying mother who expects regular phone calls.

But Mark thinks he's one of the most fascinating people he's ever met.

Dustin is _loud_. He should be socially awkward - he is socially awkward - but he doesn't care. He just traipses around, sitting on things and laughing at things and yelling about things, and sometimes he pisses people off and sometimes he makes friends and Mark, who isn't like that at all, hates him for the first two months of their acquaintanceship.

Dustin seems to return the sentiment. "Shut up, asshole," he says, after Mark tells him caustically that playing that many video games will rot what's left of his brain, and, "Fuck you, too!" with a laugh, when Mark shoves all of his shit out of the kitchen cabinets to make room for one goddamn can of tuna, and, the worst, "Princess!" for a _month_ when he comes in one day and finds Mark playing Mario Kart and using Peach as his avatar.

Whatever, Mark's just too lazy to go through the menu and change it.

But "Shut up, asshole," becomes "Shut up, princess," and eventually just, "Princess!" when he comes in and wants to know if Mark's there, and it pisses Mark off to no end.

So when one day Mark looks at Dustin playing video games and realizes he wants to play with him it's a very irritating surprise. He hadn't planned on liking anyone at college, never mind his roommates, and here Dustin is, one of the worst people on the planet, and Mark decides he likes that. He'd blame karma if he believed in that sort of thing.

Mark ventures out after a few minutes, and stands by the side of the couch watching. Dustin keeps glancing over at him and then staring back at the screen, and finally he says, "Dude, you're kind of freaking me out. Did you want something?"

Going around the other side of the couch, Mark sits down and looks at Dustin expectantly. Dustin looks back curiously, then grins and tosses Mark the other controller with a cheerful, "Okay, sweetheart!"

Mark rolls his eyes and loses the next three rounds.

Now Dustin still hangs around, but he's hanging around with Mark. It's nice, weirdly, especially when Mark discovers Dustin is more than an acceptable coder and can easily be bullied into assisting with long projects. Mark has to help him in exchange, sometimes, but he's usually done with whatever it is before he realizes Dustin or Chris has manipulated him into it, so it's an acceptable trade.

Dustin is still loud, but now Mark can ignore him and sometimes tell him to shut up - and occasionally expect obedience, even - and Mark finds his social habits more interesting than annoying. He can't detect any pattern to Dustin's friends - they're from all over campus and have no consistent character traits, they come by at weird hours or have a set schedule, Dustin leaves to meet up with four of them and then comes back with two different ones. There's no method to it, and it's frustrating.

He always introduces Mark to them, and it takes Mark a long time to realize that he actually cares what Mark thinks.

One of the guy friends, Terence, is an ass. He's rude, yeah, but Mark doesn't hold that against people. He's stupid, though, which Mark does have a problem with, and he doesn't like Mark.

Dustin studies with him and some girl for freshman calc, and Terence is better at it than the two of them. Mark is passable at math, but not outstanding, and he's not exactly going to volunteer his services.

He can tell when an answer's wrong, though, and after Mark points out another mistake Terence stands up and says, "You're so good, you want to tutor us?"

"No," Mark says.

"He's not that good at calc," Dustin says, laughing. "He's good at nitpicking when things are wrong."

The girl in the study group looks at Mark. Mark looks back at her.

"Worthless," Terence says, muttering, and Dustin kicks him and sends an apologetic look at Mark.

Three weeks later and Terence still hasn't shown up again. "Where's--" Mark says, waving a hand around, and Dustin says, "He studies with some other people now."

"Why?" Mark says blankly. Without him, Dustin and the girl are going to have to struggle through on their own.

"He was kind of an asshole," Dustin says, making a face.

Mark nods and leaves him and his study partner alone, and wonders when their relationship became one where there was reason to choose Mark over someone else.

Dustin never completely stops with the name calling though.

2\. Chris

Chris makes more sense. There's the physical attractiveness, obviously, and he is also very obviously intelligent and patient in a way Mark hadn't really encountered before in anyone except his mother and her trained mental health professional friends. And it started when Dustin was still in his jackass phase, so there was probably a bit of good roommate/bad roommate effect at work there. Chris would never quite take sides - he said it wouldn't be fair; Mark knew it was because he liked Dustin better - but he would mediate, and when he was in the room, Mark was safe from Dustin's everything.

So Chris became a little bit associated with comfort and a lot associated with peace. Mark, coming from a household with three sisters, was more appreciative of these concepts than he let on.

Mark wanders out one Saturday afternoon to find Chris on the couch with a guy's arm around him.

"Good morning," Chris says, sounding amused, and the guy looks over at Mark with a sour expression.

Mark blinks, and opens the mini-fridge for beer.

"As soon as you wake up?" Chris says, watching him, and Mark gives him the finger over his shoulder as he retreats back to his room.

He listens carefully for the next couple hours, but he doesn't ever hear anything but the quiet sounds from the TV and occasionally voices.

He zones out, dicking around on his computer, and startles when there's a loud thud through the wall.

"Shh," Chris hisses, and Mark stares at the connecting door disbelievingly.

"You said your roommates were gone," the guy says, more loudly than Chris.

"My roommate _is_ ," Chris says. "Mark is completely oblivious, he always has headphones on, and he wouldn't care anyway."

Mark is not sure how he feels about this.

"Look," Chris whispers, and then raises his voice and calls, "Mark?"

Mark freezes. It's not a conscious decision, but the seconds go by and when Chris says, "See," and the rustling starts up again, it's too late to answer.

They're still careful, and what little sound does come through the door is not descriptive enough for Mark to know what they're doing. He can't get up, either, because the floorboards beneath his desk make a distinctive squeak. Chris would probably recognize it.

He hears it clearly when they come - especially Chris, which Mark finds interesting - and he relaxes back in his chair slowly as he hears Chris get up after and go to the bathroom, and then everything is quiet.

\---

"Darling!" Dustin says, throwing open Mark's bedroom door several hours later. "Mark! How are you, what did you do today, please tell me you've moved since the last time I saw you!"

"Yes," Mark says, tugging his headphones down.

"What did you do today?" Dustin repeats, in that cordial, over-the-top way that means he doesn't actually give a shit but is really waiting for the chance to go on about his own day.

"Listened to Chris have sex with some guy," Mark says.

Dustin squeaks. Mark smirks.

"Did they know you were here?" Dustin asks, hissing, as if suddenly trying to keep their conversation a secret.

"Yeah," Mark says, and pulls his headphones back up.

\---

The guy - boyfriend? - is named Alex. Dustin likes him, though that probably has something to do with the way he provides them with lots of free beer. He also introduces Dustin to weed, which Chris isn't pleased about.

Mark isn't sure whether Chris dislikes the weed itself or the way it turns Dustin into a slut - it totally does, Dustin manages to kiss all of them at some point - but after the first couple of times, Chris bars all marijuana from the apartment.

Alex comes around fairly regularly, but if Dustin's going to be gone his arrival is regular as clockwork. He shows up about half an hour after Dustin leaves and stays until the next morning.

Mark always leaves his headphones off; they get less cautious after a while, too, until he probably would've been able to hear them even with the headphones on, but he's careful not to let Chris know.

Things go on like that for a while, until Mark walks in after class one evening and sees Chris on his knees. He's sucking Alex off, that much is obvious, even when he startles at Mark's entrance and stands up, stepping forward and trying to hide Alex from view.

"Mark," he says, and wipes the back of his hand over his mouth.

"Hi," Mark says. Chris' mouth is really red.

"We didn't expect you to be back this early," Chris says.

Mark shrugs, and stares at Alex as he skirts around the couch and heads back to his room. Alex looks really uncomfortable, and possibly angry.

He listens, but Alex leaves almost immediately. Chris is knocking seconds later, and Mark lets him open the bedroom door.

"Sorry," Chris says. He looks sheepish. "Didn't mean for you to see that."

Mark can't tell if Chris is still hard. There was no way Alex got off, but maybe Chris went first?

"I knew it was a bad idea," Chris continues. "We don't usually do it in the living room, you know - don't tell Dustin, he'll never let it go."

Mark thinks it would be rude not to get your partner off. He only has theoretical experience, but he's heard reciprocation is a big deal. Mark can understand that - he wouldn't want to be the person left out.

"Mark, I realize it must've been traumatizing, but could you stop staring at my crotch?" Chris sounds mad, and when Mark jerks his eyes up, his face is red.

"Sorry," Mark says, and Chris shifts on his feet. Mark would've reciprocated, for Chris.

3\. Eduardo

Eduardo comes later, and it's much more sudden with him - it's like a blanket that whites out everything else for a while, even Dustin and even Chris, but Mark's relationships are still simple, still binary, one two, on off, do you like me yes no, and so Eduardo's existence doesn't make Mark like Dustin or Chris less any quantifiable amount.

Mark meets him leaving a shitty AEPi party and decides he likes him right away. He's helping some girl with something, and when Mark first glances over at them he dismisses it as the standard trying-to-get-on-her-good-side flirting, but when he sees them later the girl is walking away, looking immensely pleased.

The guy, on the other hand, is making an exasperated expression and he says something very nasty under his breath.

Mark snorts.

The guy ducks his head, looking around guiltily, and Mark stands still as the guy sees him. "Sorry," he says, sounding guilty, too.

"I'm sure she deserved it," Mark says.

"You don't know what she was asking!" the guy says.

Mark shrugs. "Must've been something bad to earn that particular epithet."

The guy coughs, and then says, "I'm Eduardo."

"I'm Mark," Mark says, and doesn't have to consider how to keep him around, because they end up eating dinner together, over the course of which Eduardo discovers they have the same required ten-week seminar on Being A Respectable Person or something. They sit together the rest of the course.

\---

By the end of the seminar, Chris and Dustin are pestering Mark about who this person is that he _actually likes_ (emphasis Dustin's). Chris has even started asking around. Mark doesn't tell them that Eduardo is also in AEPi, because he wants to keep Eduardo to himself, but finally Eduardo insists on meeting his roommates and Mark brings him over.

He knows, objectively, that there's very little chance they won't like Eduardo. Everyone likes Eduardo, and Dustin and Chris like everyone. He still waits by the door after letting Eduardo in, watching closely.

Chris says hello and tries to make normal-person conversation, while Dustin accosts Eduardo with beer, offers of food, and horribly invasive questions.

Eduardo handles Dustin well, and he and Chris like each other almost instantly.

Dustin talks Eduardo into playing Mario Kart, and then Eduardo talks Mark into playing for him. Chris gets bored quickly and unplugs the console over Dustin's protests. He lets Eduardo pick a movie, because that's polite, and sends Dustin to the kitchen to make popcorn. Dustin drags Mark up, too.

"Chris likes him," Dustin says, insultingly surprised, as if Eduardo weren't likable. "We thought your friend would be more like you."

Mark doesn't understand the connection - he's relatively certain Chris likes him, too, at least marginally.

Chris calls them back in, tells them not to be antisocial - as if Dustin knows what the word means - and Eduardo is still sitting on the couch with Chris. Mark sits in the armchair and glares at the TV.

Partway through the movie, Eduardo says he has to go, and Chris makes violent faces at Mark until Dustin says, "Chris is trying to tell you to walk Eduardo out."

Eduardo smiles tolerantly and pulls Mark out into the hallway with him.

They stop at the top of the stairs. Eduardo says, "That went okay."

"What," Mark says.

"Well, I wanted your friends to like me," Eduardo says.

"You wanted them to like you," Mark says.

"Yeah?" Eduardo says, starting to look worried.

"Hm," Mark says.

Their class together ends but Mark still wants Eduardo around; and he is.

4\. Erica

Mark meets Erica on campus one day while she's visiting a friend. She went to high school with the other girl, and they still try to see each other. She says there's really no excuse not to, when they live half an hour from each other.

She tells him all this while they're standing in line for coffee, and Mark listens because she has pretty eyes and large breasts and he would like to stop being a virgin sometime this year.

He likes her more than he first expected to - she gets Dustin's sense of humor, and Eduardo likes her, and she's not stupid like Mark had been temporarily concerned about.

One night she tugs Mark into his bedroom and undresses. After, she giggles and kisses him and says, "I think your roommates are still in the living room."

"I know," Mark says, and helps her redo the clasp on her bra.

He walks her to the stairs because Chris would probably kill him if he didn't, and when he comes back Dustin laughs and makes vulgar comments.

"You had to do it while we were here?" Eduardo says. His expression isn't one Mark has seen before, and is really sort of hysterical.

"You could've invited her to stay the night," Chris says.

"Alex never does," Dustin says, and chortles while Chris tries to make excuses.

5\. Sean

Sean makes Mark uncomfortable. At first Mark wants him, and then he doesn't, but they always need him. Mark doesn't like the vulnerability Sean represents, even when he does still want him around.

Mark never tells Eduardo, but Sean sends him texts almost nonstop after the meeting in New York. Sean gets it, in a way nobody else does - Eduardo is used to people liking him, and Dustin hasn't been getting the attention the same way Mark is, so they don't understand when Mark brings it up (he does try; twice). Sean knows, though. So when Mark tells him about everyone who comes by, looking to impress him, Sean sends back Get used to it. People want pieces of things like this. Any one of them would blow you for a way in.

It's crude and honest, and very Sean, and Mark doesn't talk to him about it again. But he thinks of Chris and Alex, long since broken up, and of losing his virginity one door away from all of his friends. He doesn't want any of these new people, not in on Facebook and not on him, and he's almost certain Sean wouldn't understand that.

6\. Eduardo

He and Eduardo fight almost constantly now. About Facebook, about them, about the weather. Dustin keeps his head ducked and Chris just disappears most of the time.

When Eduardo accepts Mark is going to California and gives him the money for the summer, he sticks around the rest of the evening. It's late and he's half-asleep on Mark's bed when Mark relinquishes Facebook to the not-really-watchful-enough care of Dustin (Mark knows he goes to sleep during the night, Mark just likes him enough to let him get away with it) and crawls up, joining him.

Eduardo makes a sleepy noise and sits up, says, "Sorry. I'll go."

"No," Mark says, and yawns. "You can stay. I'll be up in a couple of hours."

Eduardo looks hesitant, but he lies back down slowly.

He stares up at the ceiling and Mark stares at him, and when Mark wakes up in the middle of the night, Eduardo is sprawled half on top of him. Mark could wiggle closer, see how well they fit together; he could probably angle his head up and kiss him. But he couldn't get away without waking him, and before he can work up the nerve to do anything, he falls back asleep.

In the morning Eduardo is already awake. "Will you be alright in California?" he asks. His eyes have bags under them, and Mark is cold along the side where he was lying.

"Yes," Mark says. There's no other option.

"It'll just be you and Dustin," Eduardo continues, concerned.

"You could come," Mark says.

"I can't." Eduardo sighs, tired.

Mark shrugs. "You could."

Dustin is asleep on the couch when Mark follows Eduardo out of his bedroom. Mark kicks his chair and smiles when he flails awake.

"Be okay," Eduardo says quietly. He drapes his arms over Mark's shoulders from behind, and awkward sort of hug.

"Yeah," Mark says, and stays carefully still until Eduardo decides to pull away.

"Hey," Dustin says, blinking sleeping at them, and Mark says, "It's fine."

7\. Dustin

In Palo Alto it is just Mark and Dustin. Not literally; there's the interns, though they don't count - Dustin's the only person Mark keeps track of. Dustin keeps track of everyone else, so Mark doesn't worry about it.

The first week or so, everyone is all over the place. It's weird, settling into a house that's technically theirs, while working twenty hours a day on Facebook, and playing at being grown ups for the first time. Sometimes Dustin and Mark are awake at the same time, and doing the same things, and coordinating work, but sometimes Mark sleeps all day and Dustin sleeps all night, and sometimes the interns matter enough to interrupt.

But after a week they get things smoothed out, like who sleeps where and works on what when, and other, more mundane things like grocery shopping and laundry, which, decided by general consensus, is a fend-for-yourself situation, and bills, which Mark has to deal with. Dustin gleefully mocks him every time he has to handle "adult stuff," but he's always helpful about reminding Mark, which is not something Mark would've expected prior to this summer but appreciates nonetheless.

When Mark gets everything worked out to a livable level, he buries himself in Facebook and ignores everything. Less than twelve hours later, though, Dustin takes his earphones and taps his shoulders and makes an enormous nuisance of himself until Mark snarls and turns around.

"I'm bored," Dustin announces, and rocks forward on the balls of his feet.

"So work," Mark says, and tries to take his headphones back.

Dustin steps backwards. "Aw, come on, Mark. Don't be antisocial."

Mark sighs and stares at Dustin; but unusually, Dustin just grins and bears the scrutiny. When Mark can't stare him down, he says, "What."

Dustin says, "I told you - I'm bored," but his face flickers at the end, and Mark doesn't believe him.

Mark lets Dustin drag him outside, and all they end up doing is swimming. Dustin drags Mark in fully clothed, which Mark bitches about until Dustin points out (correctly, though there's no way he could know for sure) that Mark didn't bring swim trunks.

"We'll go get you some," Dustin says, and Mark doesn't say that he hadn't planned on swimming often enough to need them.

When Mark feels himself burning - they don't have sunscreen, any of them, and Mark can imagine Eduardo and Chris both rolling their eyes - Dustin relents and lets them go back inside. They pile into Mark's bedroom to change into dry clothes, and then Dustin traps Mark in the living room with a promise of forty-eight hours to himself if he sits through any movie of Dustin's choice.

Dustin yells at one of the interns to order pizza, and when Mark raises his eyebrows, Dustin says, "What? I've been reliably informed that's what interns are _for_."

Mark says, "Huh," and blinks.

"God, Chris would kill me for saying something like that," Dustin says, and abruptly stops smiling.

"You miss him," Mark says, realizing he's seen this behavior before - the week before finals last year, when Dustin's oldest sister had her first baby and Dustin didn't have time to go see them, even though the rest of his family was there.

"Shut up," Dustin says.

"I miss them," Mark says. Dustin is always easier to deal with once he's talked himself out, and Mark is fairly certain he needs to talk about this. Eduardo and Chris would both ask, he knows, and while sometimes they erred too far on the side of nurturing, in their absence Mark has to take the reins, and he doesn't have his own methods, so appropriating theirs will have to do. And Mark knows Dustin well enough to know he's more communicative if he doesn't think Mark's making fun of him - he's like most people that way.

Dustin says, "Aw," and throws his arm over Mark's shoulders. Mark stays put.

8\. DustinandChris

Dustin snaps before Mark does, and calls Chris every couple of hours until he promises to come out sometime in the next couple of weeks. Dustin, not to be deterred, continues his hourly campaign until Chris consents to book the flight while Dustin's still on the phone, and Dustin bullies him into extending the length of his visit from a weekend to nearly a week.

Mark is coding when Chris arrives, and for several hours after, so when he finally sees Chris, it's because the sun is glaring into his eyes through the open sliding glass door and Dustin and Chris call him out to the pool when he gets up to shut it.

They smell like sunscreen when Mark gets over to them, and Chris, without opening his eyes, brandishes a tube in Mark's direction.

"I'm fully dressed," Mark protests.

"He didn't bring a swimsuit," Dustin says.

"You go swimming naked?" Chris asks flatly.

Dustin starts snickering. "He goes swimming in his clothes."

"That will ruin them," Chris says.

Mark shrugs and sits down on the hot concrete in front of their chairs. Inside, there's a crash, which Mark and Dustin ignore but makes Chris sit up in alarm.

"It happens," Dustin says, holding Chris' arm when he tries to go investigate.

Chris subsides again, and Mark is drowsing by the time Dustin starts talking about anything the drugs - there are a lot, they're seriously everywhere - and the parties they don't have time to go to. When Dustin mentions Sean, though, Chris kicks Mark in the side, rousing him.

"He's here?" Chris says, and kicks Mark's ribs again.

"He lives out here," Mark says, rolling away.

"No, you moron," Chris says. " _Here_."

Mark scowls. "Not all the time." This is pretty much true; Sean, near as Mark can tell, doesn't actually live anywhere. He just drifts from place to place whenever people expect him. Recently, this seems to be his most-permanent residence, but he's still only here a couple nights a week.

But Chris won't be running into him, because Sean is in San Francisco for the next week. Dustin had chosen his timing carefully. He doesn't like Sean much, though he won't tell Mark why, and he said it would be a good idea to keep Chris and Sean away from each other. If Chris' reaction would be anything like Eduardo's, which Dustin is adamant it would be, Mark is inclined to agree.

"Have you talked to Eduardo?" Chris asks.

Mark answers yes, although Chris is really asking if Eduardo knows about Sean, which he doesn't. If Chris isn't going to be straightforward, Mark is under no obligation to be so either.

Chris professes general disgust for every room of the house when Dustin drags him around, showing it off. Mark doesn't blame him - the living conditions aren't bad, but they could be better. And Chris color-codes his shirts - he has different standards for these things.

Mark shows him the video of Dustin's zip line accident, because it's cool, and Chris looks Dustin over carefully after he sees it, as if there might still be injuries almost a month later when there weren't any in the first place.

Mark goes back to coding after dinner. He gets up a little after midnight to get a beer, and the door to the backyard is cracked open. He's going to slide it shut - it's hot outside, even at night, and Mark doesn't like the way the outdoor air makes the house feel sticky - but Chris and Dustin are in the pool, kissing against the side.

He can't hear them over the cicadas and the lap of the water, but he watches them until the moon goes behind a cloud and throws them into shadow.

9\. Eduardo

When Mark tells Eduardo he needs him he thinks, for just a moment, that Eduardo doesn't understand. He doesn't know what it will mean, if Eduardo doesn't get something this essential, but then Eduardo's eyes soften and he just says, "Okay."

He agrees to stay, to believe and to trust, and Mark is relieved he understood that much.

A couple of days later, in the kitchen one morning when Eduardo is just getting up and Mark is about to go to sleep, Mark yawns. When he shuts his mouth Eduardo is there, holding his jaw, and then they are kissing and Mark is so much more than relieved.

\---

Eduardo comes along to Sean's meeting with the investors. The investors are interested, and Sean and Eduardo declare a truce in the face of the hordes of suits.

And Facebook grows and grows; they move offices and then again. Eduardo buys a house, and moves Mark in with him, and one weekend Chris and Dustin visit and never really leave, because Eduardo's taste runs towards enormous, modern structures that never feel full, so there's plenty of room. Chris and Dustin both have their own places, so they don't technically all live together - they're too old for that, Mark's mother says offhandedly, and Mark glares at the phone until Eduardo gives him an odd look and takes it away - but they might as well.

10\. DustinandChris

Dustin has cornered Chris at his desk and is kissing him. Mark is watching them, just observing the way they touch each other, when Eduardo comes up next to him.

"What are you doing?" Eduardo asks curiously, and Mark answers, "Watching Chris and Dustin make out," before he considers whether that might sound inappropriate.

Eduardo gives him an odd look and Mark says, "If they're going to do it where people can see, someone _should_ see. Otherwise all their effort is wasted."

"That's a wonderful rationality for voyeurism," Eduardo says, and then attempts to claim the rest of Mark's attention with really boring things like quarterly projections.

Later, Eduardo is half-asleep on Mark's couch - he is, never mind what he says, he always naps around this time, and one day Mark will get him to admit it - and Dustin is sitting on Mark's desk prattling about some awesome idea, really, that Mark thinks is a horrible idea, really.

Mark is tired, so he leans his head onto his hand, and he's watching Dustin talk - his code's compiling, fuck off, it actually is - but not listening, and Dustin eventually huffs at him, and makes other loud noises, and leaves his office, but he makes stupid faces as he wanders his way out, and Mark is probably smiling stupidly back at him by the time he turns around to go back to his own desk.

And then Eduardo says, "Oh, _Mark_ ," and Mark looks over at him and realizes he's ruined everything.

"I'm not," he says, but then, "I _wouldn't_ ," because that at least sounds true, at least is true.

"I know," Eduardo says, but his eyes are still sad.

"I wouldn't," Mark repeats.

"It's okay," Eduardo says.

\---

Mark doesn't believe him until the next day. It's after Dustin comes into his office, turns his chair around, and makes out with him for about five minutes - Mark's sense of survival takes a while to come back online: it's morning, Eduardo confiscated his Red Bull yesterday, Dustin is taller than he is and frighteningly enthusiastic and also started it; Mark stores up all these excuses the longer he kisses back - and he kicks Dustin out and goes to hide in an upstairs conference room. It's also after Chris has come and found him and tried to talk to him through the locked glass door. He says a lot of things about how it'll be okay, and Mark can come out, and he's sorry for what Dustin did, and Mark turns the music up on his computer, without headphones, so Chris can tell he's being drowned out.

Nobody bothers him the rest of the day until it's Eduardo knocking on the glass door, and then Mark scrambles to shut off the music and sits terrified in the chair, staring at Eduardo across the room.

"I have a key," Eduardo says, faintly muffled, and holds it up against the door.

Mark doesn't move.

Eduardo unlocks the door and comes in, and Mark frowns up at him when he comes to stand between Mark's knees.

"Mark," he says, and Mark cringes and looks away.

Chris and Dustin are in the doorway watching them. Mark looks the other way.

" _Mark_ ," Eduardo says again, louder, and his voice is stern but his eyes are smiling. "It's okay."

Mark lets Eduardo pull him to his feet, and kiss his mouth, but he balks when Eduardo tries to pull him closer to Chris and Dustin.

"Really," Eduardo says, and tugs a little harder.

Chris sighs and Mark looks over instinctively, but he doesn't look mad. And Dustin says, "Hey, princess," cheekily, and then Mark finally believes Eduardo, and thinks maybe he misunderstood why he was sad.

Eduardo takes Mark home alone that night, just the two of them. Mark starts to relax, and then Eduardo plies him with wine and sex and food with a double helping of more wine, and then Mark tells him all of it, explaining Dustin and Chris and everything in a slur of words and sour breath.

11\. Chris

Dustin keeps randomly kissing Mark, which gets old really fast.

It's not the kissing that pisses Mark off - it's the random attacks on Mark's person, which might be awesome if it weren't for the fact that Mark is fairly certain he has three bruises forming already and also Dustin usually is kissing, like, his forehead and cheek and nose, and Mark is torn between horrifying flashbacks to his mother during his childhood and wondering how Chris ever put up with Dustin if Dustin acted like this with him.

Chris finally rescues him, pulling Dustin away - sort of; he distracts him with promises of an unknown variety, hissed into his ear when Dustin is caught by the corner of Mark's desk, which makes Mark wary - and tells him leave Mark alone until lunch.

Eduardo is away at meeting with the lawyers about something, and Mark has no one to save him.

Chris traps him at his desk and says, "You could've said something."

"No," Mark says.

"I talked to Eduardo," Chris says, and raises his eyebrows at Mark.

Eduardo is a traitor.

"It's nothing new," Mark says.

"Eduardo said--" Chris starts. He looks amused.

"He lies," Mark says.

Chris snorts, and rolls his eyes, and gives up. He steps away, and Mark feels triumphant and disappointed, which is a horrible combination.

But Chris just shuts and locks Mark's door.

He kisses a lot like Dustin, which Mark should have expected but didn't.

(+1. DustinandChrisandEduardo

"I had to get him drunk before he'd tell me," Eduardo says.

"You're a bastard," Mark says. "And a traitor."

Eduardo laughs and leans forward, kissing him on the mouth.

Dustin says, "So exactly how long--?"

"Years," Eduardo says.

Dustin smirks. "You've been jerking off to us that long?"

Mark frowns.

"You're so crude," Chris says.

"I cannot be the only one who thinks this is awesome," Dustin protests.

"Awesome?" Chris says. "Not really the most appropriate word for the situation."

"So what did you think about?" Dustin asks, ignoring Chris. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

It does not surprise Mark that Dustin has both considered this before and is willing to admit to it. Dustin grins, and Mark rolls his eyes.

"He wants to blow you," Eduardo says to Chris. "That featured pretty prominently."

"Mark totally walked in on you that one time," Dustin says. "Even I remember that."

"What?" Eduardo says. "Walked in on what?"

"Chris had this guy--" Dustin starts, but Chris interrupts loudly.

"What else?"

Mark shrugs. "It doesn't matter."

Chris looks skeptical. Mark doesn't know how to explain that, after all this time, really anything is more than acceptable.

"I want to fuck you," Dustin says.

Mark says, "Yeah."

\---

Eduardo and Chris both insist on an actual bed. Dustin scoffs at their lack of adventure, until Eduardo points out the group sex the bed will be hosting. Dustin still doesn't quite let it go, insisting they shouldn't be afraid to branch out their locations, and Eduardo kisses him to shut him up.

Mark had been marginally worried that he might get jealous - Eduardo has been solely his for so long - but Chris says, "That doesn't work for me anymore. he just talks through it," and sounds so wistful that Mark has to laugh. Dustin makes an outraged sound, but Eduardo bites his lip, and that shuts him up again. Chris looks intrigued.

Chris turns and kisses Mark, and asks, "How do you want to do this?"

"Get on the bed," Mark says. "Get undressed first." He swallows as Chris complies, ignoring how Eduardo and Dustin have gone silent.

Chris is half-hard against his stomach. Mark kneels next to him, curling a hand around his cock. Chris breathes in unevenly but stays quiet. Mark straddles his legs, leaning down, and noses along the line of Chris' thigh and up over his hip, until he reaches the tip of Chris' cock and sucks him in. Chris touches the top of his head lightly, and Mark swirls his tongue around the head. He looks up, and Chris is looking down at him, looking halfway in awe.

Eduardo sits lightly at the edge of the bed when Mark settles onto his stomach and sucks Chris in further. Dustin is less careful, almost kneeing Mark in the head as he clambers over to kiss Chris. Mark reaches out and gets a grip on Dustin's leg, pinching him as he pulls off of Chris.

"Fucker," Dustin says, kicking at him.

Eduardo's smiling, but Chris says, "Dustin, could you be more careful of Mark when he has his teeth that near my dick?"

"Come on," Eduardo says, laughing at all of them, and pulls at Mark until Mark lets him tug his clothes off. "Okay," Eduardo says when Mark's naked. "Sorry for the interruption, you can go back to what you were doing."

Mark gives him a dirty look, but he presses his palms to Chris' hipbones and leans back down.

Eduardo touches Mark's hip, just a tickle, and Mark twitches away. But his hand comes back, tugging Mark up onto his knees, and Mark lets himself be maneuvered with a grumble. Chris hisses out through his teeth, so Mark makes the sound again, louder.

Eduardo pets Mark's hip, and then Dustin mimics him, tracing a hand up Mark's spine.

"Okay?" Eduardo asks, pressing his thumb partway into Mark. His hand is very cool on Mark's skin.

Mark lifts his head, and eyes the ripple of muscles in Chris' stomach, pleased, though Chris doesn't actually say anything. His hands settle on Mark's shoulders, tense. "Yeah," Mark says.

He hears the lube being opened, but it's not Eduardo's fingers that curl into him. Dustin's more hesitant than Eduardo, and Mark hums. Chris is watching Dustin, when Mark looks up again, and Mark makes another noise, louder, and lets his teeth scrape lightly under the head of Chris' cock. Chris swears under his breath and his hips push up, sliding his cock towards the back of Mark's throat. Mark has to pull back, and Chris blinks down at Mark.

Mark has to let up though when Eduardo slides a finger in alongside Dustin's. He hisses out and Eduardo says, "Like this, come on."

When Dustin pushes in he digs his fingers into Mark's hips. Mark almost wishes Eduardo wasn't here, Chris wasn't here. He's almost certain Dustin wouldn't be careful, that he probably likes rough sex as much as he likes fucking in pools - which is also something Mark walked in on, though he's never gotten drunk enough to share that with anyone. Dustin pushes in almost too roughly anyway, and Mark groans, pushing up onto all fours.

Chris sits up, pulling away carefully. Mark says, "Don't," but Dustin thrusts in and that's all he gets out.

"No," Chris says, "Can you--?" and he thumbs Mark's mouth open. Mark licks at his fingers, watching Chris' expression flicker, even at something that simple. Chris pushes his cock back in, sliding heavy over Mark's tongue.

Mark closes his eyes, breathing out heavily and relaxing into it. He can hear Eduardo saying something to Dustin, but he doesn't care enough to listen. Chris gets less cautious as Mark tips his head back, and finally he thrusts in with something close to greed. Mark has to swallow hard, his mouth is watering too much, and Chris says, "Fuck."

Eduardo lays a hand on Mark's ribs, fingers drumming on his side. He leans close and kisses Mark's cheek lightly. Mark slits his eyes open and tries to look over at him. Chris' fingers tug in his hair when he moves.

"Hey," Eduardo says, smiling sweetly at him, just that stupid nonsense words thing he does when he's happy. Mark is too lazy to roll his eyes, but Eduardo smiles harder and Mark is pretty sure the sentiment came across.

And then Eduardo decides to be a fucking traitor again, and his hand on Mark's ribs become a hand on his ass, and he pushes his fingers against Mark where he's stretched around Dustin's cock.

Dustin decides that's a good idea, and he stops moving, cock halfway in. His fingers tangle alongside Eduardo's, but he actually pushes and slides one in along with his cock. Mark tries to squirm forward and he twists his head away from Chris, ignoring the bereft sound Chris lets out. "Seriously?" he says, but his voice is hoarse and he has to cough. Chris doesn't help, pushing his fingers into Mark's mouth. Mark bites him, but not hard.

"It's hot," Dustin says, but his voice is wrecked, and he doesn't sound like when he's teasing.

Mark says, "No," and Dustin makes a disgusted sound before laughing, leaning down and mouthing at Mark's neck. He pulls his hand away, though.

Eduardo stops too, but he grabs Mark's cock instead, fisting it and rubbing his fingers over the head. Mark squeezes his eyes shut and noses at Chris again.

He keeps getting caught by the weirdest sensory moments; Chris and Dustin both fucking him, and he keeps tangling his fingers in the sheets and catching himself cataloging the feel of the cloth. Dustin isn't fucking him hard enough to move him, but there's still enough friction to make his knees sore. He wonders what it would've been like if Eduardo and Chris had let them do this on the living room floor.

"Mark," Chris says, and the tugging on his hair becomes insistent, pulling him off.

"I'll swallow," Mark says, but gets distracted, licking at his mouth. It's swollen and hot, and talking feels clumsy.

Chris laughs, sounding strained, and says, "Don't get mad at me for _asking_."

He pushes back in without asking, and Mark ducks his head closer, giving up on sucking entirely and letting his mouth go slack.

Eduardo grabs Mark's cock again, kissing his shoulder, and says, "Give me your hand."

Dustin moans louder than Mark when Eduardo takes Mark's hand and holds it around his own cock, using it. Mark moans, too, but Chris nudges against the back of his throat and starts to come, and when he pulls off he has to swallow several times, thickly. Chris pulls him up, kissing him lightly, and then his hand tangles with Mark's to jerk Eduardo off.

Eduardo is chewing on his lip, staying quiet, and Dustin is panting against the back of his neck. Mark closes his eyes again.

Dustin pulls out as soon as he comes, and Mark starts to complain, but Eduardo grabs him and pulls him up, almost hugging him. The angle's better, and his hand tightens on Mark's cock. Mark pushes closer to him, until Chris takes the hint and wraps his hand around both of them.

Dustin's fingers come back, pushing in again, and this time Mark moans and cooperates, spreading his legs. He's open enough that two fingers isn't a stretch, and Dustin twists them deeper.

"Don't," Eduardo says, pushing Mark away and letting go of his cock. "Don't come yet."

"Fuck you," Mark says, and grabs for his own cock. Dustin catches his hand, even as he adds a third finger and makes Mark shake.

"Please," Eduardo says, and leans forward to mouth at his jaw.

"Hey," Chris says, tugging Mark around and kissing him, until he nods blindly and agrees.

Eduardo breathes wetly over Mark's collarbone, and Mark tilts his head back and stares at the ceiling and says, "I hate all of you," feelingly.

Dustin snickers and bites his hip, which Mark wouldn't normally forgive; but Dustin's still fingering him and he's the only one who's still somewhat cooperating with getting Mark off, so Mark decides he'll let it go until next time.

When Eduardo comes it's wet all over Mark's stomach, and Mark can't stop his hips twitching forward.

"Lay down," Eduardo says hoarsely, and pushes at Mark.

Dustin slides his fingers back in as soon as Mark's on his back, and Eduardo leans over him. Mark sucks in his breath, staring up at Chris, because it would be nice to get sucked off right now. But Eduardo just blows out over his cock and then licks over Mark's stomach, cleaning up his mess and being a stupid fucking tease.

Mark says something along those lines, which Eduardo entirely ignores because he's used to it, but Chris says, " _Mark_ ," and then leans down to kiss him. Mark sort of gets why it doesn't make Dustin shut up; it seems a pretty good incentive to keep saying horrible things, actually.

Dustin takes his fingers out, and Mark swears at him, too, twisting, and then Dustin sucks him down and Mark wants to take all of it back, except he lost his breath and all of his focus on anything except Dustin's fucking mouth. And then Dustin twists his fingers back in, deliberately rough, and Mark arches up and comes.

"I love you," he tells the ceiling when he's capable of blinking his eyes open, and Dustin snorts in the curve of his hip.

)

12\. DustinandChrisandEduardo

It turns out Chris kicks in his sleep, which Mark would not have guessed, but he makes up for it by being fully awake in the morning and willing to feed them all, which is something Mark appreciates, Eduardo is apparently in awe of, and Dustin obviously takes for granted, which is both unsurprising and vaguely annoying, as Mark believes people's talents should always be recognized.

Dustin also is still as physically invasive as ever, but Mark minds it a lot less. He only hits Dustin every third or fourth infringement, but Dustin smiles as if he's gotten away with something every time.

At work, Eduardo finds an excuse to invade Mark's office every hour. Dustin camps out on Mark's couch, but he actually is still doing his work so Mark doesn't really give a fuck. Chris invades Mark's office almost as often as Eduardo, ostensibly checking in on Dustin, judging by how Dustin dubiously eyes his departure after the third visit,. By the end of the day, though, Mark can't tell who's watching over whom and why, and eventually he snaps at Chris and Eduardo to just stay put, which they do with simultaneous looks of relief. Neither shows any evidence of shame, and Mark rolls his eyes and gives up, dropping his headphones into his desk drawer.

It's a good thing he needs them around. Otherwise they could get annoying.

End.


End file.
